This blog is about all the crafty endeavors I indulge in! I need somehow to be able to talk about the newest knit pattern I found or the newest ideas I have had so a blog is ideal for this!! I also hope this helps me keep track of those crazy ideas I get in the middle of the night when my friend, Insomnia, visits.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

This is part 2 of the Fall Bounty! As I promised in my last post I will be posting my first free pattern in this blogpost!! Mini-leaf pattern!!! Also I will be adding more pictures and links (for the patterns)...I am so obsessed with making food right now! As I am typing this blogpost my 1 year old great-niece, Kylie (see previous posts for her birth announcement!! And baby shower pics---she is already 1 yrs old) is playing with the knitted foods as is her mother (she is braiding the carrot "stalk") All of the patterns for Fall Bounty foods were found on Ravelry.com as free patterns, except my mini-leaf pattern! It is exclusive to this blog!!

First the Mini-Leaf pattern: Abbreviations:
Mini-Leaf * KFB- knit through front and back loops
by Mad4marvin * K2tog- knit two stitches together

Thread tapestry needle and run through all of the stitches on the needles. Pull tight and weave through ends. On CO end, sew both sides together at bottom to pinch the end of leaf together. This pattern may contain errors because I am not a professional pattern writer. I made it up as I went along...

Now onto the FALL BOUNTY:

S is for Squash
This little squash was an easy knit, however, I kind of messed up on the top of the squash and it would not stuff quite right...but since I am making it for children....no problem! One thing I have learned about little kids is that they do not care if the pattern comes out perfect as long as they can play with it! Here is the link for the pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/summer-squash

Squash standing up

Summer squash bottom

Fall Bounty Gathered!!!
Here is all of the veggies and fruits gathered into one basket! Also, pics of the gourd and the mini-pumpkin!

Mini-pumpkin and gourd

Fall Bounty side view!

Fall Bounty in a basket!

My sisters Halloween display

My favorite apple model! My 3 yr old great-nephew Tay!

Fall Bounty has been fun to create and I am probably far from finished! I have a list of foods I want to make such as a potato, eggplant, ear of corn, a bunch of grapes, strawberries, radishes...and so much more!!! Stay tuned!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

In the last week I have become completely obsessed: with making stuffed food!!! There is something about these small food items that make me happy to knit them! They do not take long to make, take little to no effort, and make me smile. After I am done with each piece I take them to my older sisters house to keep as a collection. Her grandchildren love seeing what I make and if my sister would let them: would love to play with them! Sis thinks they are "fall decorations" but I have knitted them in sturdy cotton and washable acrylics (not to mention reinforced bind off, did extra sturdy weaving in of the ends, and put NO edible parts like eyes on them) so that the kids can play with them. The only problem I have is that I keep forgetting to take pics as I am making these little cute foods up (mainly because they are sooooo quick) so I have tried to make up for lack of "construction" pics by adding pics of my great-niece and nephew as models! As I add pics I will try to also add links for the patterns...all of these can be found on Ravelry.com and are free patterns! ***Disclaimer-I just switched to the new Blogger interface and my pics and text are coming out in weird angles and places. Please forgive me while I work out the bugs and figure out what button does what!***

Just to be clear though: I only made one...I just like taking pics of all sides of the apple. Also as I mentioned in the captions, I designed my own free hand leaf pattern for the apple. The pattern had one already but I forgot to write it down and was tooo lazy to turn on my computer to look for it! I will post the leaf pattern as my first freebie pattern!!!

C is for Carrot (and cherries)

This carrot is the reason I became obsessed with making food....I bought last month's issue of Simply Knitting Magazine and in the middle of the issue are these little "postcard projects" which are quick and easy projects for people like me! The issue had eggplant, carrot, beet, and an ear of corn. I checked my stash and no purple (so eggplant is out), no deep red (so beet is out), and the ear of corn was filled with bobbles (difficult on DPN's when you are a newbie!) sooo I made the carrot! The "stalk" of the carrot is not the one from the magazine but one I found on the Internet. All I did was run a few single strands of green yarn and then tied a knot in the top. Easy as pie!!

The bottom has some laddering but the kids shouldn't care!!

These cherries can also be found on the same blog as the apple. As I said: my new favorite knitter!! The cherries, the stems, and the leaf are all knit in Xmas glitter yarn. 100% cotton! Here is the link:

This pattern started out as a clove of garlic! I messed up on the pattern and it became: A GOURD! Paired with the mini-pumpkin I also made it makes a lovely duo. It is knit in some type of lightweight yarn that had no ball band when I bought it at Goodwill. Here is the link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/innocent-big-knit-garlic

M is for Mushroom!!!

I made this mushroom right after I made my carrot...it solidified my desire to make more food!!! Unlike the pattern though I skipped making eyes. Too many toddlers in my family who will enjoy this little nugget of cuteness as a tasty little toy. Do not want to be responsible for choking a toddler or two!! Here is the link to the pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-shrooms

This is made from 100% cotton yarn!!!

Next to my tapestry needle to show size!!! Excuse the scarred up table top!!!

P is for PUMPKIN!!!!

Close up of pumpkin

This little pumpkin is actually made from the same pattern as the gourd above....with some modifications to the pattern. I will not post the modifications on this blog post because it is already a little long and I want to add pics but feel free to contact me here on this blog and I will send you the modifications...if you want or need them. Also, it is the same pattern as the Garlic/Gourd above so I will not re-link it here. The leaf pattern, once again, is my own creation. Here are a ton of pics!!!!

Side view of pumpkin

Top of pumpkin showing leaves!

Pumpkin

So this is it for this blog post! I am going to post more pics about the "Fall Bounty" tomorrow! Look for Summer/Yellow Squash, pics of Gourd and mini-Pumpkin pics, and the free mini-leaf pattern!!!!!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I was looking through Ravelry.com two weeks ago in search of inspiration for Xmas knitting when I ran into a pattern that I had to make. I mean, right then and there! I am not sure why this spoke to me and why I felt compelled to make it right away but I was so I did! Usually when I find a pattern I know exactly who I am making it for (I rarely knit for myself but prefer to give relatives and friends my knits) but this was crying out to be made. After I was on the needles, I decided to give it to my 6 year old nephew, Logan, because he had just turned 6 and because I thought he would like it. First, let me give credit to the creator of the pattern before I start flooding this post with pics. The pattern is a freebie on Ravelry.com and the designer is KnittingNinja and the pattern can be found at this link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chain-chomp-hat

The only variation I made to the pattern was that I asked my sister to crochet the eyes instead of using felt. She kind of freeformed the eyes so I do not know what size needle, how many stitches used, or anything else and since I do not crochet I cannot say what technique she used or anything. From what she said it was simple but that is all the information I have about them. Without further ado here is my attempt at the

Chain Chomp Hat:

On the needles

I made the hat first and was really proud because I did it in the round on circs. This is still amazing to me because I am still new at this technique.

Complete hat-looks great!

Complete hat from another angle

After making the hat you have to add the teeth-this was a little intimidating to me because I am not all that great at picking up stitches. The only other time I have picked up stitches was the one time I tried to "turn a heel" while making a sock--it did not turn out well. But I wanted this hat so I went really slowly and followed the great instructions that KnittingNinja wrote.

TEETH! Oh please excuse the glare..white yarn and cellphone do not mix!

All the teeth! Again excuse the glare...oh and my model? Paper towel roll!

Logan, my nephew, showing off the teeth

Close-up of Logan and teeth

Once the teeth were on the front and the back I decided to make the chain. My sister was crocheting the eyes for me, to be added later, so I forged on with the rest of the pattern. Now I have posted before how much I found icord making to be BORING but this was one of the best features of the hat and so I had to do it. My favorite part of the hat:

My nephew, Logan, modeling the hat...see the back teeth? SO CUTE!

Now the finished product:
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With eyes on!!!

I LOVE THE FINISHED HAT! Despite giving the hat to my nephew, who liked it, my sister fell MORE in love with it and is now the proud owner of the Chain Chomp Hat!!! I see myself making a BIGGER sized one for another relative in the future!